Fool
by thegreatfool
Summary: Sakura x Naruto Warning both summary and story contain spoilers. Sakura's thoughts on her teammate as Team Kakashi journeys to save Gaara from the Akatsuki.


Disclamer: Naruto is the work Masashi Kishimoto. It is not mine. This is merely a fanfiction and as such it is not to be used for profit or gain of any kind. Let me repeat: It is not

mine. Do not sue.

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I'm such a fool. Such a stupid, stupid fool.

Why you've put up with me for all these years is beyond me really. You deserve so much better than what you got, so much better than me.

I remember the first time we met…I don't want to though. I would rather not go into all of the gory details, some memories are better left suppressed, but it ended with my fist smashing into your jaw. Great way for a seven year old to act huh.

Me, Sakura Haruno, self proclaimed genius of the ninja academy, who could memorize all of the hundreds of protocols for ninja conduct as if they were my ABC's couldn't even understand how to act like a decent human being. Naruto, from the first time I met you, you treated me with nothing but the utmost respect, but all I could do was insult you, ridicule you, and even hurt you.

Take the day I found out the two of us would be part of Team 7 under Kakashi-sensei. All you did was ask me to each lunch with you, just so that you could get to know your new teammate, and what do I do? I blow you off like you're nothing more than a piece of trash, just so that I could go see Sasuke-kun that much sooner. Great job Sakura.

I have to say that out of all of our original genin class Naruto really is one of the few among us who is truly strong. Sure Sasuke-kun has his chidori, his sharingan, and all of the other jutsu he has acquired throughout the years but he was never the true powerhouse of our group. Sometimes I think that he left because he realized this, when he realized that Naruto was just as strong, if not more so, than himself.

All of those traits our parents try to drill into our heads, compassion, friendliness, courage, were almost inherent traits for you, weren't they? You didn't need parents to become a good person; you always were one.

You've always been so brave. It takes real courage to do what you do on a regular basis, I hope you know that. To steal your head-protector back from Zabuza's grasp, to take on Orochimaru's snake after…after Sasuke had given up, that was courage.

I don't see how we could have hated you, how they still do. How many people can claim to be the light of the village that curses them for their very birth? How many people can be so kind as to look into the heart of a vicious demon and see the little boy inside, cowering in the darkness, longing for nothing more than someone to show him the way out. How many people with little more than a half hour's time could take that little boy and turn him into the man who would be Kazekage. How many people could see themselves in a demon and yet love the world enough to never let it get to them. To take their every hardship and turn it into a lesson, something to help the world with. I've only met one.

Your hardships, sometimes it seems like there is no end to them. I always knew that the village hated you, but now as Kakashi-sensei, Temari-san, and I race through the forest with you on our quest to save that same Kazekage who you saved so long ago, I finally know why.

I hate them all. I can't help it even though if I ever told you you'd tell me not to. I hate them for deciding that a pure, innocent little boy was nothing more than a monster. I hate them for hurting you, for making your childhood nothing more than a lonely trek through the darkness. I hate that you had to learn at the age where you should have been nurtured, protected, and cared for, what it means to be alone. And more than anything I hate that I helped them. I called you worthless, stupid, a talentless waste of life for no other reason than that was what everyone seemed to be doing. All I knew was that everyone hated you so I figured there must have been a good reason for it. I thought you deserved it. I was such a stupid fool.

You're so worried about Gaara right now. I can see it in your face, crunched up in some odd mix of fear and desperation, as those beautiful blue eyes of yours fill up with what almost looks like tears. I can't remember the last time I've truly seen you cry.

You're so desperate to save him, and despite what everyone else thinks it's not just because Gaara is also a demon vessel. It is because that is who you are. When it comes to caring about people, to wanting to help, it doesn't matter who it is, what country they hail from, what they happen to believe in. You would do it for anyone; it's just who you are, a selfless fool.

We're all fools really. Us for treating you like trash and you for taking it. But that ends today because I promise that no matter what I will protect you. I don't care if I have to rip the heads off of every single one of those demon hinting bastards, I will never let anything happen to you. Never. You deserve that much at least Naruto. More than any of us you've earned your little bit of happiness.

I don't deserve what I want. Not anymore. I know that. I don't deserve to have that bright sunny face smile down on me. I don't deserve to feel those big strong arms wrapped around my body. I most certainly do not deserve your lov… No there isn't even any point in talking about that. It doesn't matter anymore really. I guess that is what it means to care about someone more than yourself. You deserve better. I thought I loved Sasuke-kun but…well I've already admitted I was a fool.

Don't worry Naruto, if it's the last thing I do I will see that you are happy. You will be Hokage and the village will learn what a great man you are, if I have to pry open their closed-minded, hate-filled eyes one by one to do it. You will have your dream. I promise you that with all my heart.

I just want you to know this: I'm sorry. So, so very sorry. I know I don't deserve it, and I know it's unreasonable of me to ask but I beg of you to forgive me. I know you don't hate me, because regardless of whether or not I deserve it, you're you. You're just no good at hating someone, you never were. All the same you need to know because you deserve to hear it.

Forgive me Naruto for being such a blind fool. I love you.

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A note to my first two reviewers ilikecheese56 and Krymsom. I am sorry your reviews were accidentally erased when I was updating the story. I am a bit of a computer idiot and I did not mean to do so. Once more I am sorry. Thank you for the reviews. 


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